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Letter from Orson Hyde, 17 April 1841

Source Note

Orson Hyde

8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878. Laborer, clerk, storekeeper, teacher, editor, businessman, lawyer, judge. Born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe. Moved to Derby, New Haven Co., 1812. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, ...

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, Letter,
Manchester

City in northwest England, located on River Irwell. Noted for manufacture of cotton, linen, and silk goods. Population in 1831 about 187,000. Some early church publications for British Saints, including a hymnal and Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, published...

More Info
, Lancashire, England, to JS,
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Hancock Co., IL, 17 Apr. 1841. Featured version published in “Communications,” Times and Seasons, 15 July 1841, vol. 2, no. 18, 482–483. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

Historical Introduction

In an effort to keep
church

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

View Glossary
leadership apprised of his travels abroad,
Orson Hyde

8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878. Laborer, clerk, storekeeper, teacher, editor, businessman, lawyer, judge. Born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe. Moved to Derby, New Haven Co., 1812. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio
wrote the following letter from
Manchester

City in northwest England, located on River Irwell. Noted for manufacture of cotton, linen, and silk goods. Population in 1831 about 187,000. Some early church publications for British Saints, including a hymnal and Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, published...

More Info
, England, to JS in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas....

More Info
, Illinois, on 17 April 1841. During a general
conference

A meeting where ecclesiastical officers and other church members could conduct church business. The “Articles and Covenants” of the church directed the elders to hold conferences to perform “Church business.” The first of these conferences was held on 9 June...

View Glossary
of the church in April 1840, Hyde and
John E. Page

25 Feb. 1799–14 Oct. 1867. Born at Trenton, Oneida Co., New York. Son of Ebenezer Page and Rachel Hill. Married first Betsey Thompson, 1831, in Huron Co., Ohio. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Emer Harris, 18 Aug. 1833, at Brownhelm...

View Full Bio
, members of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Members of a governing body in the church, with special administrative and proselytizing responsibilities. A June 1829 revelation commanded Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer to call twelve disciples, similar to the twelve apostles in the New Testament and ...

View Glossary
, were appointed to travel abroad and collect information regarding the gathering of the Jews.
1

Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.


Immediately after the conference, Hyde was given a recommendation letter in which he was officially authorized to travel to “
London

City in southeast England; located on River Thames about sixty miles west of North Sea. Capital city of England. Population in 1841 about 2,000,000. London conference of British mission organized, 1841.

More Info
,
Amsterdam

Significant maritime and commercial city on western coast of Netherlands. Located at confluence of Amstel and Wye rivers. Small fishing village in twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Population in 1830 about 200,000. Population in 1843 about 210,000. JS appointed...

More Info
, Constantinople and
Jerusalem

Capital city of ancient Judea. Holy city of Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Population in 1835 about 11,000; in 1840 about 13,000; and in 1850 about 15,000. Described in 1836 as “greatly reduced from its ancient size and importance.” Control of city changed...

More Info
” to converse with “Elders of the Jews” and publish his findings “throughout the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
.”
2

Recommendation for Orson Hyde, 6 Apr. 1840.


A week later, Hyde and Page departed for
New York

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

More Info
, where they intended to set sail for Europe.
3

Orson Hyde and John E. Page, Quincy, IL, 28 Apr. 1840, Letter to the Editors, Times and Seasons, June 1840, 1:116–117.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Hyde

8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878. Laborer, clerk, storekeeper, teacher, editor, businessman, lawyer, judge. Born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe. Moved to Derby, New Haven Co., 1812. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio
’s and
Page

25 Feb. 1799–14 Oct. 1867. Born at Trenton, Oneida Co., New York. Son of Ebenezer Page and Rachel Hill. Married first Betsey Thompson, 1831, in Huron Co., Ohio. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Emer Harris, 18 Aug. 1833, at Brownhelm...

View Full Bio
’s mission reflected Latter-day Saint awareness of broader international discourse concerning the return of the Jews to
Jerusalem

Capital city of ancient Judea. Holy city of Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Population in 1835 about 11,000; in 1840 about 13,000; and in 1850 about 15,000. Described in 1836 as “greatly reduced from its ancient size and importance.” Control of city changed...

More Info
—discourse that had been intensified by recent political developments in the Middle East.
4

Hyde and Page were sent abroad in the midst of political turmoil in the Middle East and extreme polarization of attitudes toward the Jewish community. Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha’s efforts to wrest power from the Ottoman Empire beginning in 1838 eventually led to the Oriental Crisis of 1840, which was closely followed by American newspapers. The crisis was then compounded with the Damascus Affair of 1840, when several Jews were accused of murdering a Christian monk. The church’s British periodical, the Millennial Star, explicitly connected the crisis to the restoration of the Jews: “Memorials have been sent to all the Protestant Princes, soliciting their interference in the present dispute between the Sultan and Mehemet Ali, about Palestine, to secure that country for the speedy return of the Jews.” (Karsh and Karsh, Empires of the Sand, 38; Frankel, Damascus Affair, 1–5; “Restoration of the Jews,” Millennial Star, 1 May 1840, 1:18.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Karsh, Efraim, and Inari Karsh. Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789–1923. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.

Frankel, Jonathan. The Damascus Affair: “Ritual Murder,” Politics, and the Jews in 1840. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

For Hyde, the assignment fulfilled scripture, a previous blessing from JS, and a vision Hyde reported having.
5

See Isaiah 51:18, 19; Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 77 [2 Nephi 8:18, 19]; and Orson Hyde, Letter Extract, Franklin, OH, 7 July 1840, in Times and Seasons, Aug. 1840, 1:156–157. According to Hyde’s 15 June 1841 letter, JS had pronounced a blessing upon him nine years earlier that in due time Hyde would “go to Jerusalem, the land of [his] fathers.” (Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Hyde stated that in his vision in March 1840, the Spirit showed him the various cities he would later visit and proclaimed, “Here are many of the children of Abraham whom I will gather to the land that I gave to their fathers; and here also, is the field of your labors.”
6

See Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841.


Rather than proselytizing among the Jewish communities in those cities, Hyde’s mission was focused on obtaining and sharing information regarding the restoration of the Jews.
Although
Page

25 Feb. 1799–14 Oct. 1867. Born at Trenton, Oneida Co., New York. Son of Ebenezer Page and Rachel Hill. Married first Betsey Thompson, 1831, in Huron Co., Ohio. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Emer Harris, 18 Aug. 1833, at Brownhelm...

View Full Bio
was assigned to accompany
Hyde

8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878. Laborer, clerk, storekeeper, teacher, editor, businessman, lawyer, judge. Born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe. Moved to Derby, New Haven Co., 1812. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio
through Europe and the Holy Land, he remained in the eastern
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

More Info
rather than traveling with Hyde to
England

Island nation consisting of southern portion of Great Britain and surrounding smaller islands. Bounded on north by Scotland and on west by Wales. Became province of Roman Empire, first century. Ruled by Romans, through 447. Ruled by Picts, Scots, and Saxons...

More Info
. Before their planned departure from the United States, Page felt he had been slighted by Hyde and treated unfairly.
7

See Letter from John E. Page, 1 Sept. 1841.


Based on these feelings and his purported lack of funds, Page decided to remain in the United States, stating he would raise funds and join Hyde later. Hyde wrote in a previous letter to JS about continuing the mission without Page, but having received no answer, he determined to carry on alone.
8

Hyde’s previous letter is apparently no longer extant.


On 3 March 1841,
Hyde

8 Jan. 1805–28 Nov. 1878. Laborer, clerk, storekeeper, teacher, editor, businessman, lawyer, judge. Born at Oxford, New Haven Co., Connecticut. Son of Nathan Hyde and Sally Thorpe. Moved to Derby, New Haven Co., 1812. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, ...

View Full Bio
arrived with fellow traveling missionary
George J. Adams

7 Nov. 1810–11 May 1880. Tailor, actor, clergyman. Born in Oxford, Sussex Co., New Jersey. Lived in Boston during 1820s and 1830s. Became Methodist lay preacher. Married Caroline. Moved to New York City, before 1840. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of...

View Full Bio
in
Liverpool

Seaport, city, county borough, and market-town in northwestern England. Experienced exponential growth during nineteenth century. Population in 1830 about 120,000. Population in 1841 about 290,000. First Latter-day Saint missionaries to England arrived in...

More Info
, England, where they joined
Willard Richards

24 June 1804–11 Mar. 1854. Teacher, lecturer, doctor, clerk, printer, editor, postmaster. Born at Hopkinton, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts. Son of Joseph Richards and Rhoda Howe. Moved to Richmond, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, 1813; to Chatham, Columbia Co...

View Full Bio
,
John Taylor

1 Nov. 1808–25 July 1887. Preacher, editor, publisher, politician. Born at Milnthorpe, Westmoreland, England. Son of James Taylor and Agnes Taylor, members of Church of England. Around age sixteen, joined Methodist church and was local preacher. Migrated ...

View Full Bio
, and
Joseph Fielding

26 Mar. 1797–19 Dec. 1863. Farmer. Born at Honeydon, Bedfordshire, England. Son of John Fielding and Rachel Ibbotson. Immigrated to Upper Canada, 1832. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Parley P. Pratt, 21 May 1836, in Black Creek...

View Full Bio
.
9

In his journal, Fielding noted Adams and Hyde’s arrival in a rolling entry that covers 1–6 March but mistakenly dated the arrival as 3 February. (Fielding, Journal, Feb.–Oct. 1841, 9–10.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Fielding, Joseph. Journals, 1837–1859. CHL. MS 1567.

Hyde then traveled throughout
England

Island nation consisting of southern portion of Great Britain and surrounding smaller islands. Bounded on north by Scotland and on west by Wales. Became province of Roman Empire, first century. Ruled by Romans, through 447. Ruled by Picts, Scots, and Saxons...

More Info
with Adams and Fielding, preaching to congregations and ministering to converts. Six weeks into his time in England, Hyde penned the letter featured here, which was published three months later in the Times and Seasons. The letter was the first of three reports Hyde wrote to JS.
10

See also Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841; and Letter from Orson Hyde, 17 July 1841.


The original letter is apparently not extant, and no response from JS has been located.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Minutes and Discourse, 6–8 Apr. 1840.

  2. [2]

    Recommendation for Orson Hyde, 6 Apr. 1840.

  3. [3]

    Orson Hyde and John E. Page, Quincy, IL, 28 Apr. 1840, Letter to the Editors, Times and Seasons, June 1840, 1:116–117.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  4. [4]

    Hyde and Page were sent abroad in the midst of political turmoil in the Middle East and extreme polarization of attitudes toward the Jewish community. Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha’s efforts to wrest power from the Ottoman Empire beginning in 1838 eventually led to the Oriental Crisis of 1840, which was closely followed by American newspapers. The crisis was then compounded with the Damascus Affair of 1840, when several Jews were accused of murdering a Christian monk. The church’s British periodical, the Millennial Star, explicitly connected the crisis to the restoration of the Jews: “Memorials have been sent to all the Protestant Princes, soliciting their interference in the present dispute between the Sultan and Mehemet Ali, about Palestine, to secure that country for the speedy return of the Jews.” (Karsh and Karsh, Empires of the Sand, 38; Frankel, Damascus Affair, 1–5; “Restoration of the Jews,” Millennial Star, 1 May 1840, 1:18.)

    Karsh, Efraim, and Inari Karsh. Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789–1923. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.

    Frankel, Jonathan. The Damascus Affair: “Ritual Murder,” Politics, and the Jews in 1840. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

    Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star. Manchester, England, 1840–1842; Liverpool, 1842–1932; London, 1932–1970.

  5. [5]

    See Isaiah 51:18, 19; Book of Mormon, 1840 ed., 77 [2 Nephi 8:18, 19]; and Orson Hyde, Letter Extract, Franklin, OH, 7 July 1840, in Times and Seasons, Aug. 1840, 1:156–157. According to Hyde’s 15 June 1841 letter, JS had pronounced a blessing upon him nine years earlier that in due time Hyde would “go to Jerusalem, the land of [his] fathers.” (Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  6. [6]

    See Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841.

  7. [7]

    See Letter from John E. Page, 1 Sept. 1841.

  8. [8]

    Hyde’s previous letter is apparently no longer extant.

  9. [9]

    In his journal, Fielding noted Adams and Hyde’s arrival in a rolling entry that covers 1–6 March but mistakenly dated the arrival as 3 February. (Fielding, Journal, Feb.–Oct. 1841, 9–10.)

    Fielding, Joseph. Journals, 1837–1859. CHL. MS 1567.

  10. [10]

    See also Letter from Orson Hyde, 15 June 1841; and Letter from Orson Hyde, 17 July 1841.

Page 482

Manchester

City in northwest England, located on River Irwell. Noted for manufacture of cotton, linen, and silk goods. Population in 1831 about 187,000. Some early church publications for British Saints, including a hymnal and Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, published...

More Info
, April 17th 1841.
Dear Bro. Joseph:—
Once more I take my pen to write a few lines to you; most gladly would I embrace the opportunity of a personal interview with you, did it offer; but vain is the indulgence of such thoughts at present. [p. 482]
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Editorial Title
Letter from Orson Hyde, 17 April 1841
ID #
639
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:122–125
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